USING "HOW PEOPLE LEARN" AS A BLUEPRINT FOR DEVELOPING TEACHING STRATEGIES: AN EXAMPLE FROM AN INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY COURSE FOR FUTURE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS AND NON-SCIENCE MAJORS

Geology faculty at Western Washington University, Skagit Valley College, Whatcom Community College, Everett Community College, and the Northwest Indian College have collaborated to develop a new lab-only curriculum in Introductory Geology that is offered to students at each of the collaborating institutions. These efforts arose out of an NSF Math-Science Partnership between these institutions and 29 K-12 school districts in NW Washington State. One of the partnership goals is to improve the teaching and learning of science at the post-secondary level with specific emphasis on the training of future teachers. The curriculum, Geology for Everyday Thinking, consists of six modules that emphasize the transfer of matter and energy in Earth Systems.

The curriculum is based on the pedagogical approach of Physics for Elementary Teachers (PET; http://petproject.sdsu.edu/) and incorporates the key research findings of How People Learn (NAS, 1999). These key findings have profound implications for developing teaching strategies that promote student learning. They suggest that for learning to occur: 1) students' preconceptions must be engaged, 2) students must be able to build their own conceptual framework, and 3) students must be given an opportunity to reflect on their learning (metacognition). Our curriculum has been carefully constructed into modules that make use of these key findings. Each module engages students' “Initial Ideas” about concepts (and continuously revisits those Initial Ideas), sequentially builds upon concepts in a logical framework, and requires reflective writing. The curriculum employs questioning, small group work, and small and large class discussions. Students learn concepts by doing the lab activities, but the embedded group discussions that promote discourse and questioning among students is a crucial tool in the sense-making and solidification of those concepts. The questioning and discourse occurs throughout each module so that students' preconceptions about a particular concept are brought out early on, and are revisited again and again as students construct their new understanding. Whiteboarding, or the process of sharing small-group ideas to a larger group, is the primary method of generating discussion. The instructor's role as facilitator and questioner is crucial in this process.